DEANS WHO HAVE RESIGNED.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 998, 13 December 1910, Page 6

DEANS WHO HAVE RESIGNED.

;'••". ' AMUSING/STORIES. Resignations of "Deans-are unusual, but Dr. Jex-Blake, Who is retiring from the deanery of Wells, is- following the example of Dr. Liddell, the famous Dean of Christ Church, Oxford,;-the great Greek lexicographer, who resigned less than twenty years ago. Mention of his name recalls the well-known, lines: Two" men wrote-a Lexicon, Liddell and Scott; -.'•'••- '.I'-' One.half; was cleverj one half was not. Give mo' the answer,' bdy.S; quick to this riddle, ','' ' ' ''';','. Which, was by Scott,-and-which was bv Liddell? ' ,' '-' This was an epigram" sent, up by a boy at (he "trials" for the ' Maundy , Thursday money. The Rev. W. Tuckwell, in his "Reminiscences of Oxford," says: The Rev. W. G. Armitstead, Vicar of Goosetree, writes tome that he was present in school as .a boy when the. lines were composed, and according to custom were "read aloud bj; Liddell, who complimented their 'author 'with! the full fourcoin meed of. fourpenny, threepenny, twopenny,- penny, silver pieces, awarded to the best composition, - A versifier of Balliol had' no doubt about the matter, and .expressed bis opinion thus emphatically: ' ,*,. Part of it's good, and part of it's rot; The.part that is good., was written by Scott; . ". . By. Liddell was written the part that is not. ; Then, too, a previous Dean of Christ Church, "Piesence-of-Mind" Smith, resigned in October, IS3I, making room for Gaisford; a magnificent scholar,. but not a, great preacher. A sentence from one of his Christmas .sermons in the cathedral has become famous:" ' Nor can I do 'bettor, in conclusion (he said), than impress, upon you the study of Greek literature, which not only elevates ! above the vulgar herd;, but leads not in- • frequently to positions 'of considerable emolument. He was, of course, speaking from experience. '. ■-.